The Broken Hand-Mirror
by room-on-broom
Summary: Miss Hardbroom came to Cackles in the summer term with not much in the way of luggage. Mrs Cackle assumed that Hecate, a most gifted witch, had shrunk all sorts of possessions into a more manageable manner. In the winter term, her daughter Ada learnt the truth.


It started as a fake title game based on the prompt Anon gave "The broken hand-mirror" but it ran away as its own short fic and i've written a bit more for it since then. Set in just after Hecate starts teaching before Agatha leaves and Ada becomes headmistress.

As said in the tags could be Hackle+pre relationship, could be friendship eh Pick your Potato. Hope you enjoy

Miss Hardbroom came to Cackles in the summer term with not much in the way of luggage.

Only a broom, her cat, a large folder of papers; and small suitcase, with her name written on a paper label. Mrs Cackle assumed that Hecate, a most gifted witch, had shrunk all sorts of possessions, clothes, and things, into a more manageable manner.

In the winter term, her daughter Ada learnt the truth.

Sir Walter's Wet Week hit Cackles in a deluge. And with it comes cold and flu season. Everyone ends up with a touch of something at some point. But Hecate might have escaped getting so ill herself had she not run herself ragged trying to take care of all the girls coming down with the sniffles.

She's missing from lunch one afternoon, which isn't so unusual. But then the third years come up to the staff table and tell Ada that HB let them go from class early. And that she didn't look well. Fearing the worst Ada and Miss Bat left that table to track her down. Morgana is the one to come and find them however, and leads them to find where her mistress is collapsed in a hall way.

Hecate comes too for a few moments when Ada turns her over and checks for any injuries. She faints again when she tries to sit up, mid way through insisting she's alright. She isn't. She's freezing, with a burning fever.

Agatha is drafted briefly into helping. Together, with Gwen leading the way in a very careful transference, the twins get Hecate upstairs to her room. Agatha goes to cover potions lessons and after helping settled Hecate into bed, Gwen heads off to let Mrs Cackle know what's happened.  
Ada is left to look after the sick witch. And look about Hecate's room for the first time.

It's a mess but it's sparse. Hecate may have begun to build up a healthier book shelf and section of home comforts; but it's still utilitarian. And not in minimalist, possessions hidden away kind of way. Ada has seen hotel rooms with more trinkets in them. Hecate had come to Cackles that Spring with all the worldly goods that she had packed in an average suitcase.

The sparseness of the room may have been a blessing however.

Hecate's clearly been more ill then she'd let on, even before her collapse. As she sleeps tossing and turning, her magic lashes out around her. It never hurts Ada or Morgana; but every hour is a dress ripped on its hanger or a book flung across the room, the furniture knocked about. Ada puts things right either physically or magically without complaint. It's no trouble. If Hecate had more in the way of say glass animals, pictures or soft furnishings, the task might have been a lot harder than it is.

One very bad bout of fever on the third day upturns the bed side table.

Along everything on top of it. Morgana shoots off under the bed out of the way in the nick of time as it lands with a thud; the bowl of water (with the flannel in Ada's been using to keep Hecate's brow cool) smashes, along with water jug, and the lamp. The carpet is soaked, as is Ada's newspaper.

Ada tuts and sets to setting it right, the glass shards vanished before she starts picking up the bits and pieces. The water is mopped away in a flicker. The bowl, light bulb and the jug are easily vanished and replaced in a similar manner. She lifts the table back up, regretting the strain on her knees straight away. The lamp is set back up right on top. Hecate's watch on its long chain, is clearly made of stern stuff for a little delicate looking thing; it's still ticking on and only needs a scratch magically buffed out of it.

It's the little mirror that refuses to be fixed.

If anything, the hair line crack in it widens when she tries. Ada examines it, but can't work out why it wont mend. Or what use Hecate would have for it. Nearly as large as a maglet, the mirror too large for a mobile pocket mirror and too small to have hung on a wall. Besides, all the teacher's rooms are fitted with private mirrors any way. It could be a hand mirror? It might have had a handle once upon a time but Ada can't see one on the floor to reattach it. It's a bit battered and very tarnished too. There is faint brown speckling of age on the glass, and while the casing might have once been ornate and silver, it's now scratched and dull. The bumps and groves on the back feel like decoration or an initial? But it's so worn it impossible to see what it is.

"Perhaps someone else can fix it?" Ada frowns trying to magic it better again. But the glass cracked beyond repair, even Ada's fairly strong magic. "Or is it just destined for the scrap heap."

Ada is wondering this and where she could find a replacement to gift Hecate, (along with perhaps a paper weight or a plant to bring a bit of life into the room) when Morgana leaps on the bed agitated and hissing.

And Hecate bolts up with a rough sounding "No!"

"Hecate?"

"Please, no-!"

"Shh Hecate there there. It's alright HB - you're safe. You're at Cackles." Ada says sitting on the bed and brushing back Hecate's hair with her free hand, trying to be reassuring. It isn't. Hecate eyes are wet. She is weak but still desperately tries to fight the single sheet that's she's tucked into.

"No please-!" Hecate says again, her voice croaky. It takes Ada a moment to realize Hecate's not dreaming. She is addressing the deputy head, as if sensing Ada's intention with the mirror and reaching for the looking glass in Ada's hand. "Please Mm-miss Cackle don't don't throw-! don't throw it away."

"Alright don't worry I won't then." Ada soothes, brushing Hecate's hair. Hecate clumsily traces a hand over the mirror surface and lurches as Ada pulls away; not out of cruelty but worried Hecate might cut her fingers on the crack.

"Ada, Please-!"

"I won't throw it away. See, it's here? But oh, I'm sorry Hecate dear, I'm afraid it broke when it fell. And I can't fix it. Should I get my Mother or Agatha to try? Or I could find you a new one if you wish?"

But Hecate shakes her head, a moment of clarity in the sickness.

"No it's fine. Fine. Just too old to fix. It broke. Broke...Years ago." She manages, before falling back on to the pillows, exhausted again. "My M-Mother's…"

"Ah." Ada says, understanding. "I'll put it back where it belongs then."

Morgana eyes the pair of them, her tail swishing angrily. Until Ada sets the mirror carefully back down on the table. The cat relaxes as Hecate relaxes and she's slipped away again into another uneasy sleep before Ada can ask more, her familiar settling down next to her.

Sentimental is not a word one would associate with Hecate Hardbroom. Not until one learns the truth.

Ada wipes Hecate's face, rings out a flannel again and places it on Hecate's forehead; sniffs, then returns to her newspaper. After Hecate's fever breaks, the mirror is never mentioned again. Whether she remembers their short conversation, Ada isn't sure.

(She is "Miss Cackle, Headmistress" and her hair is almost all grey rather then speckled, by the time she learns the whole story.)

But a few days later, when Hecate is deemed well enough gets out of bed for a spell, the mirror isn't where it normally lived, . She panics for a moment that it's gone, not lying face down on the wood. But then she sees what is in its space.

Nowadays, the hand mirror sits in its own velvet lined compartment. Still by the bedside, but now (along with Hecate's watch and a silver band), inside a small smart jewellery case. It isn't big or ornate, but it looks simply witchy with Hecate's initials above the clasp.

Ada could not fix the broken little thing. But she did find a nice new box for Hecate to keep her few more treasured possessions safe in.

Fin x


End file.
